Trends

Dressed to catch the bad guys

Forget the halo. Charlie's newest Angels are dressed to kill.

Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu are following in the high-heeled footsteps of their predecessors, wearing sexy, stylish and trendsetting clothing in "Charlie's Angels," the new film based on the 1970s TV show.

The new Angels wear plunging necklines on their race-car driver outfits, micro-miniskirts with their Swiss Miss disguises and tight leather pants that don't rip at the seams when they beat up the bad guys. They wear stiletto heels for the chase sequences.

Each actress wore 50 costumes. Because of the wear and tear on the clothes, as many as 10 copies were made for each design.

There's got to be a hitch

Go figure! In a survey of 528 male and female drivers, 42 percent said they would pick up a hitchhiker wearing a beer logo T-shirt, but just 19 percent would pick up a hitchhiker wearing Ivy League college apparel. Drivers were least likely to pick up a hitchhiker wearing Brown University apparel, according to the survey by online marketer FreeRide.com.

A shot in the arm

Immunizations are a routine part of infancy and childhood, but few parents really understand the science behind it.

A new organization, the National Network of Immunization Information, has created a Web site at www.immunizationinfo.org. Its executive director, Dr. Bruce Gellin, outlines the problem of educating parents on immunizations in the November issue of Pediatrics.

Tired of looking at George W. Bush and Al Gore? The museum at Bush's father's George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Tex., has opened an exhibition devoted to far more venerable political faces: "Portraits of the Presidents From the National Portrait Gallery."

The assemblage of portraits range from the traditional (Rembrandt Peale's George Washington) to the American primitive (Ralph Earl's Andrew Jackson) to the abstract (Elaine de Kooning's John Kennedy) to the kitschy (Norman Rockwell's Richard Nixon) to the profound (Alexander Gardner's last photo of war-worn Abraham Lincoln).

The exhibit closes Jan. 15.

Color your house

Next year, the well-dressed house will be wearing colors influenced by water, Latino culture and Harry Potter.

That's the word from Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.

Women moving up

When it comes to career moves, more and more women are leading the way. Contrary to the traditional scenario of a wife following her husband who has gotten a job in or been transferred to another city, it's working women making most of the moves these days, with their husbands trailing along after them, says the Challenger, Gray & Christmas job-outplacement firm.

"As more women move up the corporate ladder, they are increasingly viewed as the best person for the job and are more likely to be transferred as they advance their careers," says company CEO John A. Challenger.